DCOA Wins 2008 TEDC Workforce Best Practice Award
April 24, 2008
The Texas Economic Development Council created a Workforce Best Practices Award to recognize the exceptional contributions of a Texas community who has implemented successful workforce initiatives. A group of independent evaluators select the winners for projects based on Innovation, community leverage and commitment, transferability, secondary benefits and measured outcomes.
The Development Corporation of Abilene was recognized and presented the 2008 Workforce Best Practices Award at the 2008 Spring Conference in El Paso on Thursday, April 24th. They were recognized for the implementation of the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council (MSSC) program in partnership with Texas State Technical College and the West Central Texas Workforce Board.
After a survey conducted in the fall of 2006 of local manufacturers, several of them expressed an interest in participating in a pilot project of MSSC certification, since they view it as a proven mechanism to improve the quality of their entry-level applicant pool. In addition, it appears that local manufacturers are committed to providing employment opportunities and hiring preference to MSSC-certified Manufacturing Production Technicians. The West Central Texas Workforce (WCTW) Board has committed funding toward the development of a pilot project to train and assess local workers as MSSC-Certified Manufacturing Production Technicians.
The MSSC’s vision is to equip America’s workforce with the high-performance knowledge and skills necessary to boost the productivity, innovation, and competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers. The MSSC certification process addresses skills deficiencies by assessing and certifying individuals on their abilities in math, science, reading, listening, communicating, computer technology, analysis, problem solving, teamwork and basic technical skills, all in a manufacturing context.
The City of Abilene also received a Texas Economic Development Council’s (TEDC) Workforce Best Practices Award for its implementation of the Fast Track Welding Project in 2007 through partnership with the West Central Workforce Development Board, Cisco Junior College, and The Develop Abilene Economic Development Team. This group formulated the concept and put the program into practice.
